When Appeasement Trumps the First Amendment

I was driving into D.C. the other day when a radio clip of Hillary Clinton got my attention. The Secretary of State was emoting hotly, using terms such as “disgusting” and “reprehensible.”

At first, I thought Bill Clinton might have released a candid memoir, but I soon realized that the former First Lady was talking about the crude, 14-minute “Innocence of Muslims” video that liberals blamed solely for the deadly attacks on U.S. embassies and riots across the Muslim world.

Mrs. Clinton also condemned the mobs’ actions, including the murders of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans, saying that such violence is never justified.

It was only slightly better than the Archbishop of Canterbury’s remark over the fatwa demanding the death of British author Salman Rushdie in 1988. The Anglican leader said, “We must be more tolerant of Muslim anger.”

In that spirit, the State Department began running ads on Pakistani TV distancing the U.S. government from the video, and Barack Obama did so again at the United Nations. Next, perhaps we’ll have the film maker whipped on camera and distribute it all over the Muslim world. But nothing less than a guillotine moment would suffice.

The White House also belatedly admitted that the Libyan murders were an act of terrorism, not merely a spontaneous reaction to a “hateful” video, as U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice had insisted over and over on network news programs.

As Americans, we have the First Amendment, thanks be to God and our founders. It protects the
freedoms of religion, assembly, press, speech and petitioning the government for a redress of
grievances. The video in question is protected speech, and also comes under freedom of religion.

Besides, the mobs overseas that burn, pillage and murder would do so here if they could manage it, video or no video. The 9/11/01 terror attacks and the 2009 Fort Hood massacre are irrefutable evidence that they don’t need an excuse. Anything or nothing can set them off.

In France, a magazine’s publication of cartoons mocking Muhammad prompted the government to close 20 French embassies in Muslim countries on Sept. 14. In 2005-2006, Danish cartoons of Muhammad triggered murderous riots that killed dozens of people.